In The Arms Of The One You Love
by nmufti87
Summary: “You can never let her go,” Brooke said, as she turned around to face him, tears glistening in her eyes, “can you?” Alternate Ending to 3.22. Lucas & Peyton, with some Brooke & Lucas.


A/N: - So this is another one-shot. Basically what I would've liked to happen if Season 4 never happened. What I would've hoped to happen, if OTH ended after Season 3. This is how I'd want Lucas & Peyton to come together in 3.22

This is a fairly lengthy one-shot, so be warned.

Like in my previous one-shot, some of the scenes are taken from the original episode, while the others are written by me. If you liked it, then drop a review. Happy reading.

Disclaimer: - I don't own OTH, nor do I own Lucas & Peyton.

"**In The Arms Of The One You Love"**

Peyton was standing alone on one side, when she spotted Brooke walking through the entrance. She took a deep breath before making her way towards her, in hopes of talking to her after what had transpired between the two of them, this morning. She was close enough to hear the conversation that was taking place between Brooke & Rachel.

"Hey, Rachel," Brooke said, with a genuine smile on her face, as she greeted her, "you look almost as hot as me," she said, as another smile lit up her face.

"Thanks," Rachel said, surprise evident in her voice at Brooke's comment, "although that sounds like something I would say," she said, as Brooke smirked at her lightly.

Peyton walked towards them and as Brooke saw her, she shot her a glare.

"Hey, Peyton," Rachel said, as she saw Peyton approaching them.

"Hey," Peyton said, with a small smile, and then turned her eyes towards Brooke, who chose to ignore her.

"How about we go find you a good seat," Brooke said, to Rachel as she stared pointedly at Peyton, putting special emphasis on her next word, "friend."

And with that being said, Brooke grabbed on to Rachel's arm & walked away from Peyton without saying another word.

Peyton looked at her for a second, before she looked away and saw Lucas walking towards her, so she started walking towards him, as well.

He had a small smile on his face, as he approached her.

"Hey, you," Lucas said, with smile on his face.

_**Oh, god! Why does he have to use that tone with me.**_

Peyton just nodded her head at him, not wanting to say anything, afraid that her voice might quiver if Lucas kept talking to her like that.

"So, I've been told to avoid you like the plague," Lucas said, with concern evident in his voice, "what's up?" he asked, looking at Peyton for a second before looking straight ahead, once again.

"Nothing, just," Peyton began, not knowing what to say exactly, so she just told him what she thought he would want to hear, "listen, if Brooke doesn't want you to talk to me, just do it," she said.

Lucas shot her a look, before she continued, "I'll be fine," she said, with a small shake of her head, wanting him to know that she'll be fine, because at this moment in time, she didn't want him to be worrying about her. She couldn't have him worrying about her.

Lucas just nodded his head, as Peyton started walking away from him.

"Hey, Peyton," Lucas said, as Peyton turned to look at him, "you look nice," he said, with a huge smirk on his face, before he walked away from her, leaving her standing there, staring after her.

"_**God, help me,"**_ Peyton thought as she saw Lucas walk away from her.

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Peyton stood on the side-lines as she saw her best friend or maybe ex best-friend after this morning, dance with the person she loved.

Every time she saw them together in the last couple of months, something deep within the recesses of her heart ached. She always thought that that pain was because they were happy, when she was alone. Since the past couple of days, she wasn't so sure about it.

She'd just gotten back from Savannah, after staying with Jake for a couple of days. When her dad sat her down, and told her to follow her heart, she thought she'd followed it to the right person, but she was wrong. And since then, her life seemed to have spiraled out of control. And here she stood, watching Lucas & Brooke dance at Nathan & Haley's wedding.

She was staring at Lucas. She knew that she shouldn't have been, especially after Brooke had told her that their friendship was over. But she couldn't help herself. She couldn't help but stare at the boy, who after all this time had a firm grip on her heart, and refused to let go off it. Although it wasn't his fault, he didn't even know that she still had feelings for him. _**She hadn't even known that she still had such feelings for him.**_

As she stood here, watching them dance, she couldn't help but think about all the times that Lucas had been there for her. The times where she'd felt that there was something more between them except friendship, but for some reason Lucas didn't seem to notice that particular fact, even though sometimes she felt as if he knew.

She remembered one such incident, where he had taken care of her, without thinking about how it would affect his relationship with Brooke.

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Peyton walked along the corridor, with her arm draped across Rachel's neck, as she tried to keep herself steady.

"And the stars are," she sang, as she nodded her head towards Rachel, so she would sing along with her, "what are they doing?" she asked, before flying one of her arms in the air & continuing to sing, "crying for what we could've had."

"Okay," Rachel said, as she tried to keep Peyton from singing any louder then she already was.

"No," Peyton said, as she didn't feel like stopping, "I like that line," she tried to explain to Rachel, "it reminds me of Luke," she said, instantly realizing that she'd had a slip of tongue due to her drunk stupor, "uhmm, Jake," she corrected quickly, hoping that Rachel hadn't noticed.

Peyton looked at Rachel, as they stopped in front of her room, and saw that she was staring at her pointedly.

"Jake," she said, clearing her voice slightly, so that Rachel would know that she meant to take his name.

"You sure, you don't mean Lucas?" Rachel asked, with a lift of her eyebrow, as she steadied Peyton against the wall outside her room.

"No," Peyton said, much more firmly, "It's Jake."

"Well," Rachel said, not at all buying what Peyton was saying, "whatever you say."

"Okay," Peyton said, as she held her room key, and steadied herself so she wouldn't topple over, "I have to go sleep now," she said, as Rachel took the key from her hand, to open the door, "Oh, thank you," she said, before continuing as she slightly rubbed Rachel's arm, "and thank you for hanging out with me."

Rachel smiled lightly at Peyton, with a glint in her eye that went unnoticed by Peyton.

"You know, you're not the manipulative psycho I thought you were," Peyton said, with a small chuckle.

Rachel just laughed, as she pointed towards Peyton's room, "Enjoy."

"Okay," Peyton said, with a smile.

Peyton walked into the room and closed the door behind her. As she walked further into the room, she took off her leather jacket & threw it on a chair. She moved her hair out of her face, before she walked towards the bed and lay down on it. She took a deep breath, before she heard something stir next to her.

Just then a bright light shined in her eyes, and she turned to see Lucas sit up in her bed, as he lightly moved his hair about and saw her lying next to him. She saw his eyes widen in shock, as did hers. She stared at him with squinted eyes to make sure that he was really there, before relaxing her stare and turning her gaze away from him.

Lucas looked at her closely, and as he took a breath, he smelled the strong scent of alcohol on her breath.

"Are you drunk?" Lucas asked, as he moved his hand in front of his face, in attempts of cleaning the air around him.

"Are you wearing eye shadow?" Peyton retorted, with a small chuckle, even though she was as drunk as hell, she couldn't help but feel the need to argue with him for no reason whatsoever.

She turned her gaze away from his, as sleep seemed to want to take over her.

Lucas looked at her, with pain evident in his eyes for the loss she'd just suffered.

"Working through the pain?" he asked concern evident in his voice.

Peyton looked at him, and he felt as if his heart would shatter in a million pieces as he saw the pain that was evident in her eyes.

"Kinda," she replied, in a low voice, and then smiled lightly, so that Lucas wouldn't worry too much about her.

Lucas nodded his head, not knowing what else to say.

Peyton slightly bit her lip, not knowing if she should say something else or not, but she couldn't help herself.

"Everything is going to be all right?" Peyton asked, as she turned to look at Lucas, "right?" she asked, her voice like that of a small child, who was stuck in a situation that couldn't be controlled.

Lucas looked at her with concern and his instinct to protect her in whatever small way he could cut in, "Yah," he said, with a small voice as Peyton nodded her head, and then with a little more conviction, "yah, it is," he said.

Peyton nodded her head at him lightly before she began to doze off again.

Lucas stared at her for a couple for seconds, hoping that she would be okay, because he wouldn't know what he would do, if she wasn't.

Peyton woke up the next morning, as her hand landed on someone's chest.

Lucas who was reading a newspaper saw her arm land on his chest, and raised his eyebrows at the contact, before turning to look at her.

She opened her eyes, to see Lucas staring back at her, with a smirk on his face, and a newspaper in his hand.

"Oh, God!" Peyton exclaimed, as she covered her face with her hands, as what happened last night came back to her, "how drunk was I last night?" she asked, as Lucas raised his eyebrows, and looked away from her.

"Drunk enough to puke six times," Lucas said, with a small chuckle, before he continued to read the paper.

Peyton took a deep breath.

"Let me guess," Peyton started, causing Lucas to look at her with an upraised eyebrow, "Rachel," she concluded.

Lucas nodded his head slightly, "Yah," he said, "Rachel's probably not the best person to use the buddy system with."

Peyton put her hand on her face, before looking at Lucas.

"I feel like you're always rescuing me," she said, as Lucas smiled at her slightly, "and also like there's a giant elephant standing on my head," she finished with a pout.

"Yah, well," Lucas said, causing Peyton to look at him, "I can't rescue you from the routine you have to do in three hours," he said, causing Peyton to roll her eyes at the thought of the impending routine she had to perform in her hung-over state.

"I'll wake you up in a half n hour," Lucas said, with a small smile.

"Hmmmphhh," Peyton said, as she pouted lightly, and moved the covers over her head, so she could sleep for a little while longer.

As the day moved on at a slow and steady speed, she tried to keep her mind occupied. She still had a terrible hang-over from the previous night, thanks to Rachel. Brooke had showed up a while ago & all the girls were busy practicing their routine. She felt like she needed to get away from it all, so she'd told Brooke that she'd be back in a while & walked away from the group. She saw a door st the end of one of the corridors; she walked towards it & opened the latch quickly, before walking out.

It was freezing cold outside & she was dressed in her cheerleading uniform, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do in this moment was escape it all. She walked towards the steps & sat down. She took off her sunglasses & was putting them inside her jacket, when her hands brushed against something. She felt in a little further & pulled out a photograph.

She held on to the photograph, as she flipped to the back side and saw _"Last Day with Peyton" _written on the back. Her heart soared at the idea of Ellie keeping a photograph of the two of them with her all the time, in her favorite jacket. Before a tear could slip through her eye, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucas walk towards her and sit down next to her. She quickly hid the photograph before he could see it.

"You okay?" Lucas asked, as he sat down next to her.

"You can't be out here with me," Peyton said, instead of answering his question, with a slight quiver to her voice, because of the picture she'd just found & the things that had transpired between the two of them this morning & last night.

"Nah, its okay," Lucas said, never being the one to back down when something was wrong with Peyton, "I talked to Brooke," he said, as Peyton looked at him, with a quirked eyebrow, "she knows what happened."

"It's not okay," Peyton said, as she moved her head from side-to-side, not wanting to hurt Brooke any more then she'd already had, "I mean, it is," she explained, as she saw Lucas chuckle lightly, "it'll hurt Brooke," she said.

Lucas stared at her with puzzled look on his face.

"I'll be fine," she said, with a small smile, trying to assure him that she'll be okay.

Lucas wasn't paying any attention to her. His eye had caught something that Peyton was holding. Without saying anything, he moved his hand towards what she was holding, and saw the writing on the back of the picture.

Peyton shifted uncomfortably next to him.

"You know, Peyton," he began, as Peyton looked at him, "you can learn a lot from Ellie."

Peyton was looking at him, nodding her head for him to go on.

"She struck me as," Lucas said, trying to find the right word, "tough."

Peyton laughed lightly at Lucas's comment.

"And that's important," he said, as he nudged her shoulder gently, before continuing, "but I think you can learn a lot from her mistakes, too."

Peyton stared at him.

"Don't live your life alone," he said, as he stared at Peyton, "let us in."

_**I can't do that.**_

Lucas squeezed Peyton's shoulder gently, before he got up and walked away, leaving Peyton alone with her thoughts and the picture of her dead mother & herself, in her hands. Clutching on to the picture, Peyton cried.

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As she stood on the side-lines & watched Lucas & Brooke dance to yet another song, she remembered the times that Lucas had helped her deal with the pain she'd felt. Of all the times he'd been there with her, that week when Ellie passed away, stood out more then the others.

He'd helped her, more then he knew. She knew that day when she'd said his name instead of Jake's that there was something there between the two of them, but she wouldn't admit it to herself then. She'd tried her best to run from what she felt, she tried to run as far as she could, and she'd ended up in Savannah. That made her feel better for a while, the pain she'd once felt in her heart was almost completely gone, but sometimes it still ached the way it had before, and she had thought that Jake would be able to finish that ache, but that didn't happen. Now she knew why.

She signed, thinking about how she could be so stupid as to ever doubt that the only man she could ever love was standing in front of her. _**In the arms of her best friend.**_

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Lucas held Brooke in his arms as they swayed to the tune of "More Than Anyone." Brooke had been quite for some time now and Lucas didn't know what to do & he didn't know what to say to make her okay. He glanced around, and his eyes landed on Peyton, just for a second. But it seemed like that second was the wrong one.

"Are you staring at Peyton?" Brooke asked, out of the blue.

"No," Lucas said, in a queer voice.

"Yes, you were, Lucas," Brooke said.

"I just glanced at her for a second," Lucas explained, "and anyway are you going to tell me what's going on between the two of you?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Maybe," Brooke began, "you should tell me about it."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Lucas asked, with his eyebrows raised, as he once again out of instinct glanced at Peyton, but this his gaze lingered, and his hold on Brooke grew tighter.

"Oww," Brooke said, as Lucas's nails seemed to dig in to her flesh.

"I'm sorry, Brooke," Lucas said, apologetically, before glancing away from Brooke's gaze once again.

Brooke followed his gaze, and it landed on Peyton dancing with Uncle Cooper.

"So," Brooke says, as her eyes meet with Lucas's, "even though the two of you aren't together, you still can't see her with someone else," Brooke said, "can you?" she asked.

Lucas didn't say anything.

"Unbelievable," Brooke said, as she removed herself from Lucas's arm & walked away from the dancing area.

Lucas quickly followed after her in to the room where all the women had gotten dressed.

"Brooke," Lucas called, as he walked behind her.

"You can never let her go," Brooke said, as she turned around to face him, tears glistening in her eyes, "can you?"

"Brooke," Lucas said, "that's not true."

"Lately, I've been thinking that it is, Lucas," Brooke said, as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"What happened between the two of you, today?" Lucas asked, changing the subject once again.

"Peyton told me a few things about you two," Brooke said.

"Brooke," Lucas said, as he moved towards her, "I know you're worried about my past with Peyton," he said, as he held onto Brooke's shoulder, "but you need to understand the circumstances this time. God, she was bleeding & she thought she was going to die. The kiss meant nothing."

"You kissed her, again?" Brooke asked surprise apparent in her voice.

Lucas eyes widened in surprise, and then he slowly nodded his head.

"How could you do that to me, Lucas," Brooke said, "I trusted you, and again you went behind my back with my best friend."

"Brooke it's not like that," Lucas tried to explain. "She thought she was dying. It didn't mean anything."

"What did you feel," Brooke asked, "right now, when you saw her with Cooper?"

"Brooke, don't do this," Lucas said. "You know, I love you."

"Do you really, Lucas?" Brooke asked, causing Lucas to look at her, "Love me?"

"You know I do, Brooke," Lucas said.

"It doesn't feel like that you do, Lucas," Brooke said, as a few tears escaped her eyes.

Lucas moved towards her, and wrapped his arms around her body, as she silently cried.

He rubbed her back soothingly, until she calmed down.

"Why didn't you tell me about the kiss, Lucas?" Brooke asked.

"Because I knew that it would hurt you," Lucas explained, "besides it didn't mean anything."

"A kiss always means something, Lucas," Brooke said, "and I think you know that, too."

Lucas didn't say anything.

"Did you miss me at all," Brooke asked, "when you were gone?"

"Everyday," Lucas replied.

"I really needed to hear you voice, Lucas," Brooke said.

"I was angry at what had happened to Keith, & I really felt like being alone, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss you," Lucas explained.

"Have you talked to anyone since Keith's death," Brooke asked, "about what happened, I mean?"

Lucas didn't say anything.

"You've talked to Peyton about it," Brooke asked, as she stared at Lucas, "haven't you?"

"Why does it matter, Brooke?" he asked.

"It matters to me, Lucas." Brooke said.

"Yes," Lucas said, "I have."

"Don't you see, Lucas?" Brooke asked.

"See what, Brooke?" Lucas asked.

"I can never be her for you," she said, as a few more tears escaped her eyes.

"I'm not asking you to be anyone for me, Brooke," Lucas said, as he dried up her tears with the pads of his thumbs, "all you need to be is yourself."

"You don't need to ask me to be her," Brooke said, "but all you need is Peyton."

"Brooke," Lucas said.

"I can't keep doing this, Lucas," Brooke said.

"Brooke, don't do this," Lucas started, but Brooke put up her hand.

"Let me finish, Lucas," Brooke said. "Before we became a couple, for a very long time I wanted to be with you, but I thought that you didn't, so I let it go so that you could be happy." Brooke said, causing Lucas to smile, "And I missed you whenever you weren't with me, but now after we're in a relationship, there are so many things that we don't share with each other. Days pass by and we don't talk and neither one of us feels the need to, either. And you packed up your bags and left, and didn't call me or talk to me, but you still managed to talk to Peyton about Keith's death."

"Brooke, I don't have feelings for Peyton," Lucas said, even though something from within told him that he did, but he wouldn't listen to that voice.

"It's not about Peyton, Lucas," Brooke said, "this is about us. When you were gone, I stopped missing you, because I felt that you didn't miss me anymore either. I felt that we needed each other, but after you left, I didn't feel that I did need you & I think we both know that the person you need in your life, isn't me." Brooke said, with a sad smile on her face.

"Brooke," Lucas said, once again.

"Lucas, I think we should end our relationship before either one of us gets more hurt then we already have," Brooke said.

"You can't do that, Brooke," Lucas said, "I love you."

"You might love me, Lucas," Brooke said, "but you're not in love with me."

Lucas stared at Brooke helplessly.

"Good-bye, Lucas," Brooke said, as she lightly kissed him on the cheek, "close your eyes & feel with your heart, Lucas," she said, "you'll know what to do."

"Brooke," Lucas said, as he watched her walk-out of the room & out of his life.

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Peyton was perched up against one of the tables that were in the seating area. Everyone had already left and she was the only one there. She'd felt like being alone for a little while, so she hadn't gone home yet. After a few seconds, she heard someone walking towards. Even though she didn't look up to see who it was, she knew who it was. She knew the way _**he **_walked.

"And then there were two," Lucas said, before he came and stood next to her.

Peyton smiled lightly, at his comment.

"Are you okay?" Peyton asked, after a minute of silence.

"Not really," Lucas replied.

"What happened?" Peyton asked.

"Brooke broke up with me," Lucas said.

"What?" Peyton asked, in a small voice.

"I accidentally told her about our kiss & then after that everything just sort of went haywire," Lucas explained.

"I'm sorry, Lucas," Peyton said, as she turned towards Lucas for a hug.

Lucas held on to her. Instinctively his hand went towards the nape of her neck and landed in her hair. He could feel the softness of her hair, in his hands.

Peyton held on to Lucas for a minute, before she let go.

"Will you dance with me?" Lucas asked, out of the blue.

"What?" Peyton said, surprised at his request.

Lucas held on to her hand and led her to the dance floor.

He placed one of his arms across her waist and the other hand he took her hand in and they gently started swaying in the silence.

He closed his eyes and just held on to her. Several images passed through his brain, at once. Images of Brooke. Karen. Nathan. Haley. Keith. But out of all these images, the one that was the clearest was of Peyton. His eyes suddenly snapped open, as he stared at the girl in his arms.

At that moment, he felt as if his whole universe had snapped back into focus, and the only thing that mattered was Peyton. The girl whose art & passion, had given him more then he could imagine. At that moment he felt so many things at once that it was hard to describe. It was as if everything that happened in his life, all his relationships, friendships, all of them meant nothing if Peyton wasn't there with him. It was like everything & everyone that told him that Peyton wasn't the one for him was wrong, because here she was in his arms & his for life, all he had to do was try to be with her, despite all the odds.

"You know," Lucas began, "she broke up with me because she thought that I still had feelings for you."

"What?" Peyton asked, trying to control her voice from getting squeaky, and then laughed lightly, "Whatever the hell gave her that idea?"

"Maybe," Lucas said, "because it's true."

Peyton stopped her movements and stared up at Lucas.

"You're kidding, right?" Peyton asked, in a low voice.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Lucas asked.

"You can't say something like that Lucas," Peyton started, "It's just been what half n hour since your break up with Brooke, and now you're saying you have feelings for me," Peyton asked, incredulously.

"Peyton," Lucas said, "did you mean what you said last night?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" Peyton asked, as she tried to avoid his gaze.

Lucas moved the tip of his finger underneath her chin, and forced her to look at him. "Don't avoid my eyes, Peyton. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Peyton looked at Lucas, as her mind flashed back to last night.

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It was the last act of the night, and Mouth hadn't shown up because of the flue that had been moving around town. Brooke had gone to greet Lucas, who'd just come back from his trip with his mom, while Peyton was arranging the set for the area where the last scene was to be enacted.

As she lay the sheets down on the bed, Brooke and Lucas walked towards her.

"Okay, , last scene of the night," Brooke said, as she stepped infront of Peyton. "We good?" she asked.

"Actually, no," Peyton said, as Brooke gave her a confused look. "Mouth's sick too."

"What?" Brooke asked, a devasted expression on her face, "No, we need him for this scene."

Brooke looked at Peyton, before she looked at Lucas with a hopeful expression, "Lucas, you can do it, can't you?" she asked.

Peyton couldn't do this scene with Lucas. It was the last scene of the act, where they declared their love for each other.

"Maybe," Peyton said, quickly, "we should just cut the night short."

"No," Brooke said, quickly, "we can't. It's the big finale," Brooke said, with a pout, before looking at Lucas, making her best puppy dog- eyes, "Please, Lucas."

Lucas couldn't resist that look, "Okay, but no wig," he said, pointing at the hideaous black wig that was in Brooke's hand.

Peyton shook her head at the thought of perfoming that scene with Lucas.

"Deal," Brooke said, "I'll buy you guy a couple of minutes, add lib if you need to," she said, before she scampered off to the front stage to make the anoouncement of the last act.

Lucas smiled lightly at his girlfriends antics.

"You do know what scene this is?" Peyton asked, in a queer voice, as she glanced at Lucas with a worried expression.

Lucas hadn't had the time to check out the script, so looked at Peyton with a small smile, and then looked back at the piece of paper, Brooke had handed him, before reading what scene it was.

"Oh," Lucas said, as he realized that he'd have to proclaim his love for Peyton in front of a dozen people.

Peyton gave hjim a worried look, before she turned around to set up the last scene.

The both of them could hear Brooke's voice from across the curtains, "One rainy day Nathan Scott proposed to Haley James, and the rest is a fairytale," she was saying, "this is the last scene of the night."

The curtains opened and Lucas & Peyton were seated on a bed, with their backs resting against the headboard.

Lucas stretched his arms infront of him before saying "Golly gee, that was some good loving, Haley."

A couple of laughs erupted in the audience.

"Yes, it was," Peyton said, as she ran her hand through her hair, showing that she had a good time.

"So what are you thinking?" Lucas asked her as he stared deep in her eyes.

She couldn't concentrate. Lucas was looking at her, with a certain gleam in his eyes, and she couldn't remember her lines.

"I was just ummm, --- " she said.

"Never want to go home, again," Brooke said, from the side of the stage.

Peyton looked towards her before remembering her lines, "I was just thinking how I never want to go home again," she said, with a quivering voice, as she smiled slightly at Lucas.

"I love you, you know that," Lucas said, as he stared deeply in Peyton's eyes.

She turned to look at him & remembered what had happened a few nights ago with Jake.

She was standing with Jenny in her hands and was trying to simmer her down, when Jake came up behind her.

"Where's your head at, Peyton?" he asked.

"Well, last night when I went to bed, I was living a fairytale," she began, "and when I woke up, it's a nightmare."

"It's still a fairytale, believe that," Jake said, "but you have to look in your heart and see if Lucas's still there or not & if he isn't, I'll be here."

Peyton was staring at Lucas's face, not knowing what to say or do.

She couldn't believe that after all the time that had passed between the two of them, she still had feelings for him. She ran away as far as she could, but she couldn't escape him.

"Hey," Lucas said.

"Huh?" Peyton said, as she looked at him, with a slight shine to her eyes.

"I love you," Lucsa said, in a much more lower voice, "You know that?"

Peyton looked at Lucas, and all of a sudden her mind was bombarded with times the two of them had spent together.

_The time when she'd asked him if everything was going to be all right or not, the time they'd looked at each other at Dan's annual money bash, the first time they'd talked, the time when she found out that her father was alive, the kisses they shared at the annual money bash, the stolen moments in that hotel room, the time Lucas had taken care of her when she was given the date rape drug, when Lucas comforted her when she found the picture of her and Ellie in her jacket pocket, the kiss they shared in the library, the time when Peyton thanked Lucas for helping her, the time when Peyton kissed Lucas when he came home from the hospital, when the two of them came back home after Peyton had gone to visit Ellie, the moment she kissed him during the school shooting & finally the moment when she told him that she wanted everything that he'd wanted._

All the moments that she held close to her heart, flashed before her eyes as the boy she'd once loved proclaimed his love for her, albeit it was a form of an act, but nothing had seemed more true to her then the words that he'd just spoken to her.

"I love you, too," Peyton replied, and unknown to her a few tears escaped her eyes as she rested her back against the headboard and she swore that she heard Lucas sign next to her on the bed.

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"What about last night?" Peyton asked.

"You're telling me that you didn't mean it," Lucas asked, as she held on to her shoulders, "that you didn't mean it when you told me you loved me?"

Peyton didn't say anything.

"I knew it," Lucas said, "you meant it when you said that, Peyton."

Peyton moved away from his grasp, as she turned her back to him.

"This can't be happening," Peyton said, as she rubbed her temple with the pads of her thumbs.

"Why not?" Lucas asked, as he held on to her shoulder with his hand.

She turned around to face him, "Because you love Brooke."

"I do love Brooke," Lucas said, causing Peyton to look at him, "but I'm not in love with her."

"Then who are you in love with?" Peyton asked, as she stared at him.

"I'm looking at her, right now," Lucas said, with a small smile.

"And what I'm just supposed to believe that you all of a sudden you fell in love with me, right after your girlfriend broke up with you?" Peyton asked.

"You mind if I ask you something?" Lucas asked.

"Go ahead," Peyton said.

"Where were you the past few days?" he asked.

"I'd gone to see Jake," Peyton said, as she saw Lucas's expression, "Why do you ask?"

"Why did you come back?" Lucas asked.

Peyton didn't say anything.

"I'll tell you why you came back, Peyton," Lucas said, "because you realized that no matter how much Jake means to you or how much you might love, you don't love him enough to end that ache you have in your heart for the past year. An ache that you thought would gave away if you were with him, but it just didn't," Lucas said, "did it?" he asked.

"No," Peyton said.

"I know that it didn't," Lucas said, "because it's the same way I felt when I was with Brooke. I thought that you were in love with Jake and that's why I called him that day when you told me to leave your house, because I thought you didn't want me in your life, because I thought that you loved him," Lucas said.

"You thought I didn't want you in my life?" Peyton asked, with astonishment in her voice.

"Yah," Lucas said, "you told me to leave, and I thought you didn't want me to be a part of your life, so I called Jake."

"Lucas," Peyton said, as she walked towards Lucas and held onto his hands, "do you know what you are to me?" she asked, as she held on to his hands.

Lucas shook his head no.

"You're the love of my life, Lucas," Peyton said. "There's no one I'd rather be with then you."

"I feel the same way, Peyton," Lucas said, "It took me a long time to realize it, but I was just so scared of getting hurt again that I couldn't let myself go there, I wouldn't let myself go there," Lucas said.

"I know what you mean," Peyton said, "I felt the same way."

"If I say, I love you, right now" Lucas said, "Will you hold it against me?"

Peyton smiled lightly at the lines Lucas had used, the day of the school shooting still fresh in her mind.

"I love you, too, Lucas," Peyton said, as she kissed his hands.

Lucas placed his hands on either side of Peyton's face as he brought his lips close to hers in a gentle yet passionate kiss, one of many to come.

Lucas hugged Peyton tightly before, he whispered in her ear, "I'm glad you're here with me."

"Not as glad as I am," Peyton said.

Peyton had started the day with a ten- year old friendship being almost completely finished, and now she had the one person she loved the most in her life with her. She hoped that someday that she would be able to find her way back to her friend as well.

Lucas had everything he hoped for in his arms right now. And he promised to never let her go.

A/N: - Okay, so this was a very lengthy one-shot. I think I took a few liberties with the scenes & the way I've written it, but I'd wanted something on the lines of this to happen. I might not have written it as well as the writers would have, but hey, that's what fanfiction is for, learning from your mistakes. Also the way Lucas & Peyton came together in the end may have seemed sudden and what not, but it would've actually been sudden if it had happened in Season 3, and the explanations I made the two of them give in this fic are the one's I'd thought the two of them had for being with their respective partner, that is Brooke and Jake. All mistakes or rashness is my own. I really put my heart into this fic, and I hope it turned out okay. If you guys like it then do leave a review.


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